Wisconsin Spill Compounds B.C. Pipeline Critics’ Concerns

Enbridge oil spills | BCBusiness
Another spill from an Enbridge pipeline over the weekend has provided addition ammunition for Northern Gateway critics.

As Enbridge cleans up yet another oil spill, B.C.’s environmental and safety concerns regarding the Northern Gateway pipeline are compounded.

B.C.’s residents and government are fraught with concern over Enbridge’s $6-billion Northern Gateway pipeline, and a new spill over the weekend has just added to their apprehension.
 
An Enbridge line carrying light crude from Alberta to the Chicago area leaked almost 200,000 litres into a field in Wisconsin on Friday. The company scrambled to replace the ruptured portion of pipeline on Sunday, but the PR damage has already been done.
 
The Wisconsin spill comes almost two years to the day of another massive Enbridge spill in the Kalamazoo River in Michigan. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board investigated the incident and severely criticized the company last month for its sluggish reaction time and likened the bumbling response to the “Keystone Kops.”
 
The spill comes a few days after Premier Christy Clark faced off with the premier of Alberta over B.C. getting a bigger cut of the bounty from the project, which would stretch across the province to Kitimat.
 
All the recent spills and bad publicity could spell disaster for Northern Gateway. A number of B.C. residents are already skittish over the idea of a pipeline precariously spanning the province, and the recent spills give critics (and a government that wants a bigger piece of the action) an even firmer position.
 
Enbridge could soon find out its bulletproof plans are full of holes — all its own doing.